Heel-stiffener



(No Model.)

H. PELANT.

HEEL STIEFENER.

No. 313,682. Patented Mar. l0, 1885.

N. PETRS, Phuwumagnphnr. washingmn. D. l;

UNITED @raras ArtNr Gamen.

HENRY PELANT, OF WYANDO'ITE, MICHIGAN.

HEEL-sru-'FENEa SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 313,682, dated March 10, 1885,

Application filed .Tune 23, 1884.

To all whom t may concern.: 1

Be it known that I, HENRY PELANT, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wyandotte, in the county of Vayne and State of Michigan, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Heel Stiifeners for Boots and Shoes, of Which the following isa specification.

The object I have in View is to furnish a stiffening for the counters of boots and shoes which will be cheaper and more durable than other stiffenings heretofore used, and will not be open to the objections raised against the various kinds now in use.

I have found and proven by extended practical use and test that the inner bark of certain treeshviz., the spruce, elm, and ash, but

, notably the spruce-when peeled during the jections above cited, and far superior to leather in several Ways.

Figure l is an elevation of a boot-counter extended With my stift'ening stitched thereto. Fig. 2 is a perspective View of the same bent and pressed into shape ready to nail down. Figs. 3 and 4 are similar views of a shoe counter and stiffening.

A is a leather counter, and B is a piece of spruce bar`k of the proper shape stitched thereto on the lines of the seams a b, Figs. 1 and 2, the inner skin ofthe bark to the inside. In shoe-counters the shape of the stiifening is adapted to the style of the shoe, and in many cases Will not require to be stitched to the counter, but the inturned bottom edge only nailed down under the sole. The top and end edges of the bark can be skived to a featheredge, so as not to catch the Wearers foot, With- (No model.)

l out danger of rolling over, as would a leather stiffening, or splitting off, as would a veneer, if skived toas thin an edge.

Gut or peeled during the summer months, the barks of the trees above mentioned, specially that of the spruce, are extremely tough and pliable. After cutting the bark into shape, I expel the sap and albumen contained in the fiber-cells, as far as practicable, and iill them with an oily substance or a compound having an oleaginous base,which process will form the subject-matter of another application. The object of this treatment of the bark is to retain or increase the natural pliability and -to repel moisture, as Well as to prevent the absorption of perspiration, which would soon become offensive. Should the leather or fabric lining Wear or rot through, and thereby expose the st-iffening, the smooth surface of the latter would not hurt the heel.

lNha-t I claim as my invention isl. As a new article of manufacture, a heelstiffening made of the inner bark of the spruce tree or other bark having similar qualities, as set forth.

2. As anew article of manufacture, a heelstiffening made ofthe inner bark of any suitable tree, as specified, and pressed into the usual form of a boot or shoe counter, as set forth.

3. As a new article of manufacture, a heelstiffening made of any suitable bark, as specitied, and stuffed or filled with an oily substance or compound, as and for the purpose set forth.

HENRY PELANT.

Witnesses:

IHnonoa MEHLnosn, ,RUSSELL F. JOHNSON. 

